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Donald Trump has now admitted that he's open to legalizing hundreds of thousands (or more) of DACA recipients, releasing a list of demands. Instead of fighting to stop amnesty, Trump has indicated he's open to negotiating the terms of surrender.
It doesn't matter that Dem leaders have already rejected his demands: he's a deal maker and he'll seek some sort of middle ground he and they could be happy with no matter how it will harm Americans.
His demands include (full document below):

[SEE UPDATE BELOW]
GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has released an immigration policy paper [1] and it isn't quite as dumb as I would have expected. However, there are several major problems with the paper and Trump's campaign that render it mostly useless:

Jeh Johnson is the nominee to be the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and it appears he'll be confirmed. He recently sent a letter to Republican senators, obtained by Politico and which is in this PDF file: link.

Earlier today, Kentucky senator Rand Paul gave a pro-amnesty speech at the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that in some ways is even more shocking and more crazy than the pro-amnesty speeches George W Bush gave. In addition to being borderline nuts, Paul misleads and uses a string of pro-amnesty talking points just like his dad.

USA Today was given a copy of a draft immigration "reform" (aka amnesty) bill from the Obama administration ( peekURL.com/zW8CSMp ). It sounds much the same as the other amnesty bills, even borrowing the name for the visa it would give to almost all illegal aliens from an earlier amnesty.

In Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, an ambassador visited an outpost for a few days, schmoozing with the locals. After he'd left, an official went to the leader of the outpost and said (paraphrasing), "we analyzed the ambassador's remarks, and he said absolutely nothing all the time he was here."

Tonight Fox News will be conducting a GOP debate in conjunction with Youtube, with some of the questions to be asked having been submitted via Youtube. Feel free to leave comments below before, during or after the debate. This post will be updated after a transcript becomes available. This debate stands to be just as bad and as much of a public disservice as all the others, especially considering the involvement of Youtube.

One of the main reasons I oppose the tea parties is because they're useful idiots for loose borders hacks: libertarians, fiscal conservatives, corporate tools, and so on. A good example comes in an open letter that a group of Teaparty, conservative, and libertarian groups published in Politico opposing HR 2885, the Legal Workforce Act.

Tom Tancredo has a summary of Texas governor Rick Perry and immigration (link). All sixteen paragraphs point out ways in which Perry supports or enables illegal immigration, here are just the first five:

A group of House members [1] have introduce the "Legal Workforce Act" ("LFA"), which would require the use of eVerify by most workers nationwide. That would presumably make it difficult for companies to employ illegal aliens.

Secretary of the Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack held a press conference on Wednesday in which he demeaned American workers, promoted immigration "reform", opposed immigration enforcement, and used a series of bogus immigration talking points.
An account of his remarks is here, with more excerpts at [1].
1. Vilsack ran down American workers, saying: "While some American citizens step up and take (farm) jobs, the truth is even when farmers make their best effort to recruit a domestic workforce, few citizens express interest. In large part that's because this is hard, tough work." The...

In a major victory for states that want to reduce illegal immigration, the US Supreme Court has upheld Arizona's 2007 "Legal Arizona Workers Act" employer enforcement law that requires the use of eVerify and that allows Arizona to pull the business licenses of companies that knowingly hire illegal aliens. Note that the 2007 law and the decision have no relation to Arizona's more recent immigration law. A Los Angeles Times article is here, and links to legal documents are here. Sonia Sotomayor voted in dissent; see her name's link.
Those who opposed Arizona's law in court and who lost today...

The DREAM Act is an anti-American bill that would let the illegal aliens covered by it deprive some U.S. citizens of college. Michael Barone of the Washington Examiner - discussing Obama's latest immigration speech - isn't exactly perturbed by the anti-American bill (link):
It's obvious that nothing like the legalization (opponents say "amnesty") provisions considered in 2007 can pass in this Congress. They can never pass the Republican House, where Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith is a long-standing opponent and Speaker John Boehner will not schedule a bill not approved in committee.
Nor will...

Georgia governor Nathan Deal says he'll sign an Arizona-style immigration bill that was approved by their General Assembly yesterday (link):
"To try and craft legislation that is within the parameters of what a state can do without overstepping its bounds is difficult," Deal said. "And I commend the General Assembly for trying to put a product together that they felt like met that, and from what I have seen, I believe it does meet that."
Deal did not say exactly when he would sign HB 87 but said he is confident that he will be able to affix his signature after reviewing it.
"I have no reason...

Indiana state Senator Mike Delph is trying to pass an Arizona-style immigration bill in that state [1]. In an interview [2], Indiana governor Mitch Daniels opposes the part of the bill that would allow police to ask about someone's immigration status during a "lawful stop, detention, or arrest".
While it's not exactly clear what specific parts of the bill Daniels opposes and supports [3], he appears to oppose the other law enforcement-related parts of the bill. Those would allow police who have someone in custody to check their immigration status with the Department of Homeland Security. And...

Republicans in Georgia have introduced two Arizona-style immigration bills: House Bill 87 and Senate Bill 40. They'd require businesses to use the eVerify system with new hires and would also allow police to question suspects about their immigration status. Needless to say, that would cut into the profits of companies that employ large numbers of illegal aliens, and they've responded with an open letter (link):
A group of 270 farmers and other businessmen mostly representing Georgia’s agricultural and landscaping industries is warning lawmakers about the impact their immigration enforcement...

Carrie Budoff Brown of Politico offers "Lamar Smith avoids hard line on immigration" [1]. Because we're dealing with definitions of those who aren't trustworthy (such as Brown), it's difficult to tell whether Smith will be weak on immigration matters or whether he just won't support nonsensical "boob bait for Bubba" policies.
Smith's first two hearings as head of the House Judiciary Committee will be about eVerify. However:
At the same time, he downplayed the key planks in the conservative immigration agenda... He won’t say when his committee plans to tackle birthright citizenship, the policy...

Steve Kemp of the "Golden Gate Minutemen" has been behind two smash Youtube hits featuring Rep. Pete Stark. The videos are at the tea parties level as far as stupidity (very high) and utility (very low) are concerned. They do, however, get Steve Kemp and his group a lot of attention, but then again that isn't going to reduce illegal immigration.

The video at peekURL.com/vvjwb7a shows Harry Reid being confronted about not allowing a vote last year that would have required construction companies hiring in regards to the stimulus plan to use the eVerify system. Reid then seems to make the outrageous claim that no illegal aliens are working construction jobs in Nevada [1], and that's the way it's being presented by HotAir [2] and by the low-wattage "StandWithAZ" group (the video was uploaded by them).
Unfortunately, it's not clear whether Reid was referring to all construction jobs or just those funded by the stimulus. In the first case...

Alex Nowrasteh [1] of the Koch family-linked Competitive Enterprise Institute offers "E-Verify is a Spectacular Failure and Should be Abandoned" [2], referring to this recent report. It contains several curious passages, such as:
While it cannot identify illegal/undocumented immigrants 54%, E-Verify could accomplish one thing: ossification of U.S. labor markets. With the official unemployment rate hovering around 10%, burdening employers and employees with additional workplace regulations like E-Verify will make matters worse.
1. Simply checking someone through a website isn't going to "...

From Suzanne Gamboa of the Associated Press comes this:
The online tool E-Verify, now used voluntarily by employers, wrongly clears illegal workers about 54 percent of the time, according to Westat, a research company that evaluated the system for the Homeland Security Department. E-Verify missed so many illegal workers mainly because it can't detect identity fraud, Westat said.
"Clearly it means it's not doing it's No. 1 job well enough," said Mark Rosenblum, a researcher at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, Washington think tank...
...E-Verify correctly identified legal workers...

Earlier today, Rep. Jason Chaffetz introduced H. Res. 1026, called the "Bipartisan Reform of Immigration through Defining Good Enforcement" or BRIDGE Resolution. It seeks to (press release here, no bill text yet):
* make E-Verify mandatory for all employers, and hold employees accountable as well;
* provide sufficient border infrastructure and manpower to secure and control our borders; and,
* reject amnesty and any legal status which pardons those here in violation of our laws
The red flag there is the last: no one wants "amnesty". What many political leaders want is comprehensive...

The Senate is deliberating passage of a 14-week extension of unemployment benefits. Mitch McConnell wants to include provisions about illegal immigration and ACORN, but Harry Reid - not surprisingly - does not (link):
McConnell is insisting on consideration of an amendment to prevent ACORN from receiving federal funds, and another designed to filter illegal immigrants out of the workforce. The Kentucky Republican said the eight amendments Republicans are offering won’t take much longer to consider than the six provisions Reid has proposed on behalf of Democrats.
..."I see no reason that we...

From this:
The Obama administration has repealed a rule that would have threatened employers with prosecution unless they fired workers whose Social Security numbers did not match entries in a government database, ending a two-year battle in a San Francisco federal court.
Although the Department of Homeland Security formally withdrew the "no-match" rule Wednesday, the administration is supporting another program (EVerify) enabling employers to check workers' names against electronic records that are supposed to screen out illegal immigrants.
See the no match summary for the backstory; groups...

North Carolina Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler - together with Sen. David Vitter - will re-introduce the "Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act" (SAVE Act). Per this it would:
* Require employers to use the federal government's E-Verify database to make sure they're hiring legal workers.
* Increase the number of Border Patrol agents by 6,000.
* Create a pilot program to increase aerial surveillance and use other new technology to secure the border.
* Hire more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and create grants for some local law enforcement officials.
* Expedite...

Per this:
The Senate voted Wednesday to require federal contractors to use an electronic employee eligibility verification system and to set construction standards for the fence now going up along the border with Mexico... [the first] was adopted by voice vote after a motion to kill it failed, 44-53. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., offered the amendment, reflecting GOP frustration over the Obama administration’s delayed implementation of an executive order by President George W. Bush setting out the same requirement. The Obama administration has pushed back the Jan. 15 deadline for that order...

Numbers USA says:
Informed sources are telling our Capitol Hill Team that the Obama Administration plans to announce today or tomorrow new orders and rules that will gut most of the improvements in fighting illegal immigration at the end of the Bush Administration...
We are told that (a potential) new Obama Executive Order will retain the language requiring contractors to verify new hires (using eVerify). But it will eliminate the language requiring them to verify all previously employed workers on the contract.
That means that all the illegal aliens already working for federal contractors...

On Friday, RedState front-paged the Brian Johnson article "Conservative Immigration Reform is Right Next to Unicorns and Leprechauns" [1]. At first you might think he's just some random libertarian loon, until you see the article in its original location at the "Alliance for Worker Freedom" [2].

The US Chamber of Commerce spent almost $10 million on lobbying in the first quarter of 2009 for all issues combined. The Associated Press enumerates the issues here:
The government's $700 billion financial rescue package and Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, were among the high-profile issues the Chamber lobbied on during the first quarter... The group also lobbied on: union organizing, wage discrimination, the children's health insurance program, transportation and port infrastructure, travel restrictions to Cuba, pension security, medical liability reform, greenhouse gas standards,...

The somewhat fair report from Ned Potter of ABC News entitled "Illegal Immigration: Can Online Database Help?" (link) contains this curious bit:
Few companies contacted by ABC News were willing to talk on the record about their experiences with E-Verify. For instance, the giant poultry company Perdue sent the following statement :
"We are doing all that the law allows to verify each applicant's identity and employment eligibility. If we find that an associate has presented false information on an employment application, that person will be immediately terminated."
Perdue confirmed it uses E-...

Rep. Lamar Smith offers "Amnesty Pushers Concoct Six Straw Men" (link), a collection of logical fallacies that illegal immigration supporters use. The points raised aren't of much use unless those supporters - such as nationally-known politicians - are confronted with them, and if you can do that on video that could have a serious impact on those supporters' careers.
It includes a section about family separation, specifically referencing Luis Gutierrez' "Family Unity Tour" and including this:
But he [the strawman] forgets that children can travel to their parents’ home countries with them....

Remember how when John McCain used the cheap, misleading tactic of talking about how he wanted to "secure the border first" and then use that to push for amnesty, and Obama supporters lied and said he didn't support comprehensive immigration reform anymore? Well, now Barack Obama wants to secure the border first and then use that to push for amnesty. Somehow it's different this time.
From "Obama budget puts security first at the border/He'll ask Congress to help curb the flow of arms to Mexico before seeking any immigration reform" (by Anna Gorman and Peter Nicholas of the Los Angeles Times;...

Good news for government contractors that want to employ illegal aliens or who don't really care: the Obama administration has delayed implementation of the EVerify program for those contractors (link). That program lets employers check the employment eligibility of prospective employees, and illegal immigration supporters have fought against it being anything but its current status as a voluntary program.

The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) - part of the American Immigration Lawyers Association-linked American Immigration Law Foundation - has released a new, canard-rich study called "What Immigration Reform Could Mean for the U.S. Economy" (immigrationpolicy.org/index.php?content=fc011309):

Earlier today, Barack Obama held a townhall in Orange County, CA and the full transcript, including the audience questions and his answers, is here. Maybe some time before the decade's over someone will get around to actually taking my advice and asking him a tough question, but that didn't happen in this case.
As soon as I found out about the event, I posted here and at FreeRepublic urging people to go get tickets in an attempt to have someone ask him this question, without luck. Whether the questioners were hand-picked or not (and, since one of them was a union official, all or some of...